Italian business leaders take a dim view of Romano Prodi's centre-left government and give it no credit for the country's improved economic situation, according to a survey published on Sunday in the daily Il Sole 24 Ore.
The poll of 500 company executives showed 73 percent were dissatisfied with Prodi's performance during his year in office - rating him between one and five in the poll - while 27 percent thought he had done a good job - scoring between six and 10.
A similar poll during the run up to the April 2006 general election showed 33 percent of firms viewed the prospect of a Prodi government positively and 60 percent viewed it negatively.
Italy's economy has recovered since Prodi took office amid a general European upswing, but Italy has continued to underperform most of its euro zone partners.
The coalition government, which has appeared divided on many issues between its more moderate parties and those on its far left, is lagging in opinion polls and performed badly in recent local elections.
The tax burden has risen, and most economists say Prodi's only significant attempt at structural reform has been some limited deregulation of the service sector.
The poll showed 81 percent of business leaders believed that if a general election were held now it would be won by Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right opposition. Only 4 percent believed Prodi would win.
Companies took a more upbeat view of Italy's economic situation than in a previous poll in March 2006, though there were still far more who viewed it negatively (47 percent) than positively (18 percent).
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